Posted: 7/23/04

Baylor regents don't vote
on Sloan, reaffirm 2012 plan

By Ken Camp

Managing Editor

WACO—In spite of boasts by his opponents that they had the votes to unseat him, Baylor University regents took no vote on embattled President Robert Sloan, other than affirming the long-range plan that has become the centerpiece of his presidency.

Sloan apparently survived another milepost in his tumultuous nine-year tenure as Baylor University’s president when the school’s regents met July 21-23 for a three-day retreat to discuss Baylor 2012—the school’s 10-year vision.

They emerged from the meeting with Chairman Will Davis of Austin announcing the regents unanimously had reaffirmed their commitment to Baylor 2012. He also told reporters the board had taken no vote regarding Sloan’s presidency.

Baylor 2012 is a plan championed by Sloan to make Baylor a top-tier university by expanding the school’s facilities, reducing class sizes and recruiting professors committed to academic excellence, scholarly research and Christian values.

Critics claim the plan has increased debt to a quarter-billion dollars, pushed tuition to levels unaffordable by students from middle-income families and forced instructors to meet narrow and rigid religious tests.

Twice in the last year, the university’s Faculty Senate passed votes of no confidence in Sloan as president.

Regents responded last September by affirming Sloan by a 31-4 vote. But at the board’s May meeting, he came within one vote of losing his job. During a closed-door session, a motion to ask for Sloan’s resignation failed by an 18-17 secret ballot.

At that same meeting, John Baugh, a major Baylor benefactor from Houston, warned he would ask the university to repay loans and return financial gifts he made if the board failed to rescue Baylor from “the paralyzing quagmire in which it currently is ensnared.”

Even though no vote had been on the agenda of the July 23 regents meeting regarding Sloan’s continued employment, prior to the meeting some regents had expressed their clear expectation that someone would introduce a motion to dismiss the president. And the Committee to Restore Integrity to Baylor—a group opposed to Sloan’s leadership— claimed there were enough votes to oust Slaon.

No motion was introduced during the business session, and questions about Sloan continuing as president were not even discussed, Davis told reporters following the closed-door regents business session.

“Divisive issues did not arise,” Davis said

The night before the regents’ vote, a Waco television station reported that Sloan rejected a $2 million buy-out. Davis said no severance package had been discussed to his knowledge.

Sloan said he was “very encouraged” by the meeting and especially by the regents’ strong affirming of Baylor 2012.

“I am committed to Baylor University, and I plan to remain as Baylor’s president,” he said.

Ken Hall, president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, addressed the board at the beginning of the retreat—“rather candidly,” according to one regent. Hall told the regent the turmoil revolving around Baylor was detrimental to Baptist work in Texas, and they needed to resolve matters.

Richard Scott, vice president for development at Baylor, also spoke to the regents offering a similar plea for a different reason. Fund-raising had become increasingly difficult due to the continuing controversy, and he urged them to settle their differences, a regent recounted.

Sloan, 55, is a native of Coleman and a 1970 graduate of Baylor University. He earned a master’s degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a doctorate from the University of Basel, Switzerland.

Before assuming the university presidency, Sloan was dean of Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary and holder of the George W. Truett chair of evangelism.

He served on the Baylor religion faculty from 1983 to 1995, and he taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1980 to 1983.

Sloan has been pastor or interim pastor of close to two dozen churches in Texas, Oklahoma, New Jersey and Germany.

He and his wife, Sue, have seven children.

Posted: 7/23/04

LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for Aug. 8

God can bring deliverance in times of crisis

2 Kings 18-19; 2 Chronicles 29:1-32:23

By David Morgan

Trinity Baptist Church, Harker Heights

When it comes to facing crises, the question is not “if” but “when.” You either have faced or will encounter challenging times in life. People tend to grit their teeth and resolve to overcome. Responding in that manner may suffice, but at other times the only means of deliverance is for God to intervene. Christians need to learn to trust God in threatening situations. King Hezekiah of Judah provides one example.

Announce trust (18:30)

Hezekiah, one of Judah's most godly kings, succeeded his father Ahaz, one of its most wicked. Ahaz had chosen to pay tribute to Assyria rather than trust God's promise for security. Hezekiah demonstrated that his character resembled King David's by purging the nation of idols. He further displayed his loyalty to God by rebelling against Assyrian domination. Hezekiah publicly shared his confidence in God.

Assyria reacted by seizing some of Judah's cities. Hezekiah then relented and stripped the temple's and king's treasuries to pay tribute. His actions failed to satisfy the Assyrian king who sent high-ranking officials to Jerusalem. They publicly ridiculed Hezekiah's trust in God. They declared that no god had protected its people from Assyria. They challenged Hezekiah's word that trusting God was the best course of action. Neither God nor the king could withstand the attacks of the Assyrians.

Admit weakness (19:1-3)

Hezekiah responded quickly. He showed grief and despair by tearing off his clothes and putting on sackcloth. He understood that God alone could save the people and went to the temple to pray. He refused to abandon God.

The king sent officials to Isaiah to report the Assyrian threats. Hezekiah wanted Isaiah to intercede for the nation. He sought the prophet's help while Ahaz had rejected Isaiah's advice (2 Kings 16:5-10). Hezekiah may have wondered how Isaiah would respond. The prophet had been critical of Hezekiah's earlier rebellion against Assyria. Isaiah opposed the alliance the king had made with Egypt as an act which indicated a lack of trust in God (Isaiah 30:1-5; 31:1-3). At that time, the prophet considered the Assyrians' attack as God's act of judgment on the people. In addition to reporting the words of the Assyrians, they informed the prophet of Hezekiah's great distress.

The foreigners had maintained that God was powerless to deliver Jerusalem. The king likened the situation to the physical exhaustion a woman experiences giving birth. Hezekiah had no ready answer for his predicament. He, however, possessed the spiritual discernment to seek God's intervention through the prophet. He knew God alone could deliver.

Ask for God's help (19:5-7, 14-19)

Isaiah had God's answer when Hezekiah's aides reached him. Isaiah assured the king God would honor his confidence. God would intervene with power sufficient to protect the nation. To contend that God was powerless to protect his people was blasphemous. The words which threatened Jerusalem directly mocked God. The Lord God would respond.

God promised to rescue Judah without the nation being forced to fight. God would cause the Assyrian king to hear a rumor from home which would lead him to abandon his siege. Opponents would assassinate Sennacherib after his return to Nineveh.

Another Assyrian challenge interrupted Isaiah's message and Hezekiah's response to it. This time the taunting was directed more against Yahweh than Hezekiah. The enemy then sent Hezekiah a written letter detailing their demands. The king spread it before God in the temple. He prayed for God's deliverance. He began praying by proclaiming God's glory. The mention of cherubim reminds us of the innermost room of the temple where God would meet his people with mercy.

Hezekiah implored God to hear his prayer. He asked God to respond to Sennacherib's taunts of the living God. He had declared their gods superior to Yahweh. Hezekiah worshipped a living God who alone was “over all the kingdoms of the earth.”

Judah's king acknowledged the Assyrians' military might. They had conquered at will. They had burned and destroyed the gods of their vanquished foes. But Hezekiah knew these gods were merely idols fashioned from wood and stone. They had been created by human effort and possessed no power or strength.

Inanimate objects could not deliver, but Judah's God was alive and powerful. Hezekiah's prayer encompassed more than simply saving a people who were besieged. Saving Jerusalem was certainly important. But “now” (v. 19), Hezekiah asked God to deliver for God's sake as well as the nation's. God could demonstrate his power and reveal himself as the God of all nations and peoples by delivering Jerusalem. All nations could see Yahweh alone was God.

God's majesty, power and faithfulness were witnessed as the Lord saved the city by sending the angel who put to death 185,000 Assyrian troops. Sennacherib withdrew, returned home and was assassinated as Isaiah had foretold.

God promised deliverance. God delivered. True deliverance comes when Christians rely on God in times of crisis.

Question for discussion

Where do you first turn in times of crisis?

Posted: 7/23/04

Falwell faces IRS scrutiny after urging support for Bush

By Kevin Eckstrom

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–A church-state watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service after Jerry Falwell told supporters to “get serious about re-electing President Bush” and solicited funds for a political action committee that supports Bush.

Falwell, in a July 1 “Falwell Confidential” e-mail, said: “For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush. The alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable.

“To the pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, pro-America voters in this nation, we must determine that President Bush is the man with our interests at heart. It is that simple.”

The Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which has tussled with Falwell before, told the IRS that Falwell's letter violated rules that prohibit churches or nonprofit groups from endorsing candidates. It also asked for an investigation.

“Falwell is thumbing his nose at the IRS,” said Barry Lynn, the group's director.

“He must not be permitted to use a tax-exempt ministry to engage in partisan politics. The vast majority of America's religious institutions play by the rules. He should too.”

Earlier this year, Lynn's office filed a similar complaint against the Roman Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs, Colo., who said Catholics could not vote for candidates who support abortion and gay marriage.

Lynn charged Bishop Michael Sheridan with trying to steer votes toward Republicans.

Falwell's e-mail was posted on his Web site, www.falwell.com.

It also encouraged supporters to donate to the Campaign for Working Families, a political action committee founded by former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer.

“I believe it is the responsibility of every political conservative, every evangelical Christian, every pro-life Catholic, every traditional Jew, every Reagan Democrat, and everyone in between to get serious about re-electing President Bush,” said Falwell, who 25 years ago rallied Christian conservatives by founding the Moral Majority.

Falwell told The New York Times the e-mail was paid for by his tax-exempt lobbying group, Liberty Alliance, which falls under the larger Jerry Falwell Ministries.

The website makes several references to the tax-exempt Jerry Falwell Ministries but not Liberty Alliance.

The letter contained his personal views and did not constitute an endorsement, he said, noting he routinely supports Bush in public when preaching at his home congregation, Thomas Road Baptist Church, in Lynchburg, Va.

“I support President Bush,” he told The Times.

“I support him on Sunday mornings from the pulpit where it doesn't cost the church or anybody anything.

“I make it very clear, just like at most African-American churches and many liberal churches, that as a tax-paying citizen I vote. And I tell people who I vote for.”

Posted: 7/23/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Aug. 1

Peter's principles for helping others succeed

Matthew 4:18-20; 14:25-33; John 1:40-42

By Rodney McGlothlin

First Baptist Church, College Station

One of the most fascinating characters of the Bible is Simon Peter. I refer to him as the “foot-in-mouth” apostle. Maybe that is why I like him so much. He is like me, maybe like you too. He speaks first and thinks later. He believes with all his heart and then acts like he never heard of Jesus. His “believer” and his “actor” never quite seem to stay in sync. He preaches and he stumbles. He confesses and he denies. In short, he is real. There is nothing phony or pretentious about him.

For the next five weeks, we will study the life of Simon Peter. The writers of the Family Bible Study materials have called this study, “Peter's Principles for Successful Living.” I think I know what they mean by that, but something about the theme bothers me. It makes the Bible and Simon Peter sound like the self-help gurus on the info-mercials that want to sell me some product that will make me thinner, happier, wealthier, richer and more successful. Surely that would make me more likeable. Do you think God gives us grace so we can spend it on our success?

I thought I might like the theme “Peter's Principles for Helping Others Succeed.” That would get closer to the intent of the gospel of a Savior who taught us to care more about others than ourselves. But this theme does not match the facts of the biblical account of Peter's life either. The fact is Peter never seemed to think ahead enough to come up with any principles for living, let alone successful living. He seems to have been guided more by passions than principles.

The Apostle Paul tells of an experience with Peter at the church in Galatia. It seems the two of them were ministering in the church and participating in the pot luck dinners with the Gentiles. Then some Jews from Jerusalem showed up. Peter suddenly lost his appetite for ham sandwiches and withdrew from the Gentiles at dinner time. Paul did not recommend to the Galations that they undertake a five-week study of “Peter's Principles for Successful Living.” He corrected him. He pointed out his hypocrisy. Even in his supposed mature years, the apostle was still learning.

You may be thinking at this point, “I don't think this guy likes Peter.” On the contrary! I love this man. We can learn boat loads from him. You just can't boil it down to five principles, seven keys, six habits, four laws or three life-changing characteristics.

Peter could hardly be called purpose driven. He was passion driven. Israel was full of folks who legalistically followed all kinds of principles. Jesus was looking for some folks who could be passionate about his kingdom. Two events at the Sea of Galilee illustrate this.

Peter was a fisherman when Jesus found him. He and his brother Andrew carried on the family business. Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). He followed. And he stayed for the long haul. It was not principles he followed. It was a person. Jesus would teach him many things, even some principles. But mostly, he would teach him how to be his disciple and how to love his people. It required passion.

Following Jesus is a process. He said, “I will make you fishers of men.” Peter and Andrew were not men-fishers when they left the nets, any more than David was a king the moment Samuel poured the anointing oil on his head. It would take some time, but it would happen. They would become exactly what Jesus said. It would take a lifetime. Are you still becoming what Jesus called you to be?

On another occasion, Peter and the other disciples were rowing across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus came walking to them on the water. When Peter saw him he said, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water” (Matthew 14:28). As passionate as ever, Peter hopped out of the boat after Jesus told him to come. He walked right on top of the water. For awhile! Then he began to sink, and he cried out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!” Has he ever had to rescue you?

I have always wondered if the other disciples teased Peter about that experience. I have played a little golf in my life, and one of the certainties about golfing with men is that you will receive all sorts of unsolicited advice. And never let a golfer tell you they are laughing with you. They are laughing at you and your bad shot. Surely they teased him often about it. I don't think he cared. Peter would rather be wave-walking with Jesus than playing it safe in the boat.

Peter was not a man who understood it all. He just believed in Jesus. If Jesus wanted him to follow, he would go. If he wanted him to walk on the water, he would put on his jogging shoes and leave his swim flippers at home. That is passion. And that is what it takes to follow Jesus. What are you passionate about?

Questions for discussion

When you think of Peter, which of his characteristics springs to mind first? When people think of you, what do you believe comes to mind most quickly for them?

Posted: 7/23/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Aug. 8

Everyone needs the hope Christ supplies

1 Peter 1:1-12

By Rodney McGlothlin

First Baptist Church, College Station

We like new things. You can feel the crispness of a new world in Genesis as God speaks it into being, fresh with newness. You can sense it in the call of Abraham as God begins something new in calling his people back to himself. We read of new covenants and new wine in Scripture.

At the end of Revelation, we do not get a word of doom or world destruction. God's final word is one of newness: “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). Even the end is a beginning again with new heavens and a new earth. We need newness. We like new things.

If it was not built into our DNA from the start, it has certainly been programmed into our subconscious by Madison Avenue. We are bombarded with advertising designed to convince us that last year's fashions will doom us to life as social outcasts if we do not replace them immediately. We like new things.

Some things were not new at all to Peter's readers. It seemed like the same old story. “To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout …” (1 Peter 1:1). It was the story of God's people throughout history. They were elect, but at times it seemed they were only elected to suffering. As Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” once said, “Lord, I know we are your chosen people. But just once, couldn't you choose somebody else?”

The Jews knew what it meant to be “scattered throughout.” They had been scattered or dispersed on numerous occasions. Like seed sown in a whirlwind they had landed all over the place, blown by the winds of a fickle politic.

Now, as followers of Jesus, persecution had again come to the “elect” and “chosen” of God. There was nothing new about that. They were in good historical company.

What's new with you? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a new hope. “He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

A letter that begins with a word to the “scattered,” continues its message with a word of hope. Who needs hope? Look at the context of verses 1-9. People without a home need hope. People with no inheritance need hope. People with no protection in a world bent on their destruction need hope. People in the midst of great trials need hope. People who grieve need hope.

Because of this rebirth of hope, God's chosen people now have “an inheritance in heaven,” they are “shielded by God's power” and they have “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” They also are the recipients of God's character generating sovereignty, so their “faith might be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

As a result of this overwhelming hope, Peter tells his persecuted and scattered readers that they can experience “inexpressible and glorious joy.” Who needs that kind of hope? I do! Don't you?

Who needs hope? People who are in danger of losing touch with their past need hope.

I already have mentioned Tevye in this study. Tevye laments the loss of his tradition. And yet, when you watch “Fiddler on the Roof,” it becomes clear that Tevye is held together by his faith, not his tradition. His traditions (and his circumstances) are changing all around him. The strength of this man is found in his prayers to God. He continues to return to God for strength and guidance. Not tradition.

In the changing world of today, we would do well to remember this lesson. Traditions change. Everything changes, with the possible exception of our resistance to it. There is a sign on Interstate 35 just north of Gruene that says: “Gruene, Texas. Gently resisting change since 1872.” I bet it has not always been so gently.

Peter says the persecuted folks of his day are the recipients of blessings that come from the past. He says the search of the prophets was to “find out the time and the circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:11).

Our hope is rooted in God's past and finds its flower in his future. Peter wanted his readers to know that every promise and prophecy of the Old Testament was for them. They were all fulfilled in Jesus. The Christian church did not begin in 33 A.D. It began in eternity past. God determined to be a Redeemer before he ever became the Creator. It is a part of our tradition. We have a past and a glorious future.

Questions for discussion

Can you recall an instance where you needed the hope only Christ can supply?

Have you ever felt hope was in short supply? How did you tap back into it once again?

Does focusing on the hope of Christ encourage you to take any new action, strike out on any new spiritual venture?

Who do you know that really needs to know the hope of Christ?

Posted: 7/23/04

Fire truck siren in border town means answered prayer

By Sarah Farris

BGCT Summer Intern

SANTA MARIA–Bobby Culpepper got a surprise when he asked a Texas border-town pastor about his community's needs.

Billy Schartz, pastor of La Primera Iglesia Bautista de Santa Maria, told him to pray for a fire truck.

Santa Maria is located near the Texas/Mexico border, not far from Weslaco.

Three homes in Santa Maria recently sustained small fires. But because the nearest fire truck was 15 minutes away, each home was lost.

The men met when Culpepper, minister of missions at Westwood Baptist Church in Alabaster, Ala., traveled to the region assessing needs of border-town churches where his group could minister during an upcoming mission trip to Mexico.

Neither man knew how God would use that meeting.

Upon arriving home, Culpepper mentioned the town's need for a fire truck. Westwood's maintenance man told the people at his church–the same church attended by Pelham (Ala.) Fire Chief Gary Waters.

Waters had an unused 1979 500-gallon pump fire truck in his arsenal. He felt compelled to give the truck to Santa Maria.

“I could have sold the truck for $12,000. (But) you can't place a value on it in Santa Maria,” he said.

The cooperation Waters got from the Pelham city council was “virtually unheard of,” he said.

He cut through the red tape by declaring the truck as surplus and received approval to donate it without any problems. “All it would have taken is one (city council member) to say no,” he noted.

Six weeks after Waters learned about Santa Maria's need, Fire Engine 93 was Texas bound.

The fire chief and two of his men donated their time and even paid for the diesel fuel to take the engine on the 1,100-mile trek to its new home.

Word spread quickly through Santa Maria that a fire engine was coming. Before the vehicle arrived, four men already had signed up to volunteer at the fire department. As Engine 93's sirens announced its entrance into Santa Maria, five more men immediately signed up as volunteer firemen.

The department will be trained by Texas Baptist Men from Creath-Brazos Baptist Association.

Because Santa Maria is not incorporated–it is not officially a town–the fire truck was donated to the church.

“I feel like God had a hand in this from the very beginning,” Culpepper said. “The truck has been used to meet the basic needs of the community, to show the community that God cares, and to draw men into the church.”

The fire truck started a new chapter in the history of the town.

La Primera Iglesia Bautista de Santa Maria has changed its name to First Baptist Church of Santa Maria and hopes the change will connect better with young people who predominantly speak English.

Church members also told Waters that getting the truck was a catalyst for becoming incorporated, and the process since has been initiated.

“God compels us to use the skills, gifts and influence in our expertise,” Waters said.

A baker or a banker would not be expected to donate a fire truck to a South Texas town, but God would expect it of a Christian fire chief, he said.

“It would be a tragedy if I did not answer that call,” he maintained.

The Santa Maria volunteer fire department is now answering calls, too. They even recently crossed the border to assist with an explosion in Mexico.

Posted: 7/23/04

Children's home cooks up a different
kind of classroom to teach life skills

By Miranda Bradley

Texas Baptist Children's Home

ROUND ROCK–Eleven-year-old Armando spends a summer afternoon grating cheese in the Texas Baptist Children's Home activity center, helping prepare lunch.

It's not his first time to venture into the culinary world. He often helps his mother make dinner. But today he and his friends participate in a cooking class sponsored by HOPE–Healthy Opportunities that Protect and Empower.

“I really like it when I get to boil stuff,” he said.

While he is used to helping make tamales, rice and mole, during his weekly cooking class he learns to make various kinds of food.

“The goal is to help teach life skills,” HOPE Supervisor Melanie Martinez explained. “We want them to not only have interaction with other children but to also learn that you can make inexpensive, nutritional meals.”

HOPE is a Texas Baptist Children's Home program that reaches out to the Round Rock community, offering classes and programs to local apartment communities.

One primary area of outreach involves the Chisholm Trail and Henna apartments, where HOPE has created youth groups.

In the past year, involvement in the groups has increased, providing an outlet for youth to grow and socialize in a positive environment. In an effort to expand the children's network of peers, HOPE combined both groups to make up the summer cooking classes.

But the classes aren't just about boiling water. HOPE staffers teach etiquette, proper table-setting techniques and, most importantly, the message of serving one another.

“They are able to make the meal, but then they have to help each other with their plates,” Martinez said. “They also have to set up the tables and clean up when they are through.”

Learning to sit down to dinner and “pass the peas, please” is becoming a novel concept for families, according to a recent study by the University of Minnesota. The study showed the number of families who eat dinner together declined by 33 percent in six years.

That lack of interaction can often lead to dwindling communication, Martinez said. “Interaction is very important. They learn about each other and how to cooperate when they are sharing responsibilities.”

Lessons about food often spill over, not only into personal lessons, but into spiritual ones as well, she added. For example, they often relate the food pyramid to how God is involved in daily lives.

“By showing how the food pyramid is set up, we show that it is important to balance their meals,” Martinez said. “Jesus Christ is that balance in our spiritual lives. He is the center.”

Cooking classes have been taught at TBCH for the past three years, offering a variety of life lessons.–the most paramount being how God can show up anywhere.

“We are teaching children that we can feed the stomach and the soul,” Martinez said. “It's all in how you share the gospel.”

Posted: 7/23/04

Hunger Hounds track down donations
to alleviate suffering, fight hunger

By Janelle Bagci

Texas Baptist Communications

KILGORE–A man and woman living in a shack in the poorest area of town know what it's like to go to sleep hungry. But the mentally disabled epileptic couple still set aside $60 from their meager earnings for world hunger.

Their gift went to Hunger Hounds, an informal organization committed to alleviating hunger.

Hunger Hounds was founded in 2003 as the brainchild of businessman Charlie Whiteside. The loose network of laypeople began as a grassroots effort after Whiteside received a “calling in the night.”

Whiteside, a member of First Baptist Church in Kilgore, said, “the calling was almost audible” to raise money for world hunger throughout Texas.

Christians have the opportunity to “save a lot of kids,” he explained. “There's just too many starving to death out there.”

After receiving money from speaking engagements and donations, Whiteside donates all proceeds to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, administered by the Baptist General Convention of Texas Christian Life Commission.

Giving to the offering “was up 25 percent in the earlier part of the year as opposed to last year,” Whiteside said. “I don't know how much of that is due to us,” but it is encouraging.

“If we had 20 more people like Charlie, it would make a huge difference in the offering,” said Joe Haag of the CLC.

Whiteside covers essential expenses out of his own pocket and speaks to groups in Texas, requesting money to support the BGCT hunger offering. He hopes to garner more support through churches around the state.

Although he hasn't been able to collect as much money as he expected, he remains hopeful.

When first promoting the idea, Whiteside received close to $4,000 from his home church, and money still is coming in, he said. One woman found the Hunger Hounds web site and donated $5.

“If these people can do it, why can't we?” Whiteside asked.

The potential for the hunger offering would increase if each Sunday school class in each church would pool its money, he observed.

Whiteside “feels committed to doing this for the long haul, not just a couple of months.”

Posted: 7/23/04

Request for church directories
may have violated IRS rules

By Daniel Burke

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)–On the same day the Bush-Cheney campaign asked churches to host a “coffee/pot luck dinner,” Internal Revenue Service officials said handing over a congregation's membership list could violate federal regulations.

IRS officials said if church lists repeatedly are given to only one campaign free of charge, the congregation risks losing its tax-exempt status.

What's more, churches or individuals who give away lists worth more than $1,000 could be required to register with the Federal Election Commission.

IRS regulations forbid nonprofit organizations–such as churches–from giving a mailing list to a partisan political campaign unless the campaign pays for it.

A church directory falls within the category of a “mailing list,” said Joseph Urban, a manager in the exempt organizations division of the IRS.

Urban said potential violations are handled on a case-by-case basis, but “it would certainly raise some red flags” if a church directory made its way into the hands of a political campaign.

“On the surface, it certainly raises some questions,” he said.

Churches or other houses of worship may sell their membership rolls to campaigns as long as they are priced at “fair market value” and made available to all candidates.

It “must be shown that all candidates had an equal opportunity to get the list,” said Jack Reilly, another IRS official.

IRS guidelines state, “To ensure the list is equally available to all candidates, a (nonprofit) organization should inform the candidates of the availability of the list.”

An effort by the Bush-Cheney campaign to acquire the membership directories has come under fire from Democrats and church-state watchdog groups as an improper and partisan commingling of politics and religion.

The Bush-Cheney campaign sent an instruction sheet to volunteers titled “Coalition Coordinator Duties” with a list of 22 tasks to be carried out by specific dates. The first is to “Send your Church Directory to your State Bush-Cheney '04 Headquarters.”

Other duties included identifying “another conservative church” to help organize “for Bush,” holding voter registration drives and hosting “a coffee/pot luck dinner/'Party for the President' with church members” July 15.

A Bush-Cheney campaign spokesperson said the campaign had not asked any churches for a mailing list, but rather had contacted individuals about sending in a church directory.

The spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Bush-Cheney campaign is not paying volunteers or churches for their directories.

“These directories are readily available, public information,” she said.

But if an individual turns in a church directory, and church officials “find out and they don't do anything about it,” it would be a violation of IRS rules, Reilly said.

The religious body would not lose its tax-exempt status unless it provided the registries “repeatedly,” Reilly said, but would probably be fined by the IRS after the first instance.

Federal Election Commission guidelines forbid “membership organizations” from donating anything “of value” to a political campaign unless they register as a political action committee, said FEC spokesman Ian Stirton. A mailing list “could certainly be considered something of value,” he said.

Stirton, who could not remember the FEC ever hearing a church-related case, said the IRS usually monitors the political activity of churches. He said it was conceivable, however, that a church could qualify as a “membership organization.”

“I would have to look at the bylaws …, but a church could fall under that category,” Stirton said.

If any individual or “nonconnected” group donated anything valued at $1,000 or more, they also would have to register as a political action committee under FEC bylaws, Stirton said.

According to several direct-marketing firms, the value of a particular mailing list varies with the number of names listed and how specific or “tailored” the names are to a buyer's interest.

Jason Allely, an account executive for InfoUSA, a marketing firm that specializes in mailing lists and “sales leads,” said that a buyer could pay anywhere from 12 to 18 cents per name.

Another direct marketing executive said a buyer usually pays $80 to $100 for every thousand names.

“I am confident we are following the law to a 'T',” said the Bush-Cheney campaign spokes-person.

Posted: 7/23/04

America's Junior Miss cites vital
Christian faith as her source of strength

By Chris Otts

Religion News Service

MOBILE, Ala. (RNS)–Some parents have trouble trying to tote young children to church. But young Shannon Essenpreis helped get her family focused on faith.

Essenpreis, now 18, said she discovered Christianity at about the time she was a third-grader.

“I actually wasn't raised that way,” the new America's Junior Miss said. “It was in our family, but it really wasn't a big thing.”

But Essenpreis had a diving coach who lived the faith by example and became a role model to her. She and her brother, who was in sixth grade, asked their parents about going to church, and the family began attending Northlake Baptist Church in Garland.

Since then, her faith has been a source of strength, she said. “It's the leading factor in everything.”

Her faith was evident even just before she was named America's Junior Miss 2004 this summer.

“We all prayed when we were out there,” she said of herself and the four other finalists as they waited for the judges' decision. “I'm not sure anyone noticed that–but we bowed our heads.”

Essenpreis' mother, Kim, an aerobics instructor and chiropractic assistant, said she and her husband, Don, have always supported their daughter's interests but never tried to dictate them.

“We always told Shannon she could do anything she wanted,” she said. “We didn't know she wanted to do everything.”

In high school, she was junior and senior class president and prom queen. She was on the track and diving teams as a freshman before giving those up to sing in two school choirs. She also was in several school plays.

As the school's mascot, she donned a giant owl costume at football games. “It was just a fun way to go out and be as goofy as I wanted,” she said.

Her career goal is to be a broadcast journalist. She said she wants to find positive stories and bring them to light.

“There's so many things and amazing people in this world who never get recognized,” she said. “It's mostly the people who do things wrong.”

But before she becomes a news anchor, she hopes to be a Broadway actress for a few years after college. “Which is interesting, because neither of my parents has any musical abilities,” she said. “I don't know where any of this came from.”

Kim Essenpreis said she was confused when her daughter, while in fifth grade, said she wanted to try out for a musical play, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” She said she had no idea of her daughter's gift for song.

“I said, 'Shannon, you know that's a musical,'” Mrs. Essenpreis said. “But she wanted to do it, so I said OK. And then, when she got up on stage, I said, 'Wow, she really can sing.'”

In the fall, she plans to attend the University of Oklahoma, which she picked for its music theater program.

Her father was asked what qualities Shannon gets from him. He said with a smile, “Definitely not her ability to stand up in front of people.”

A system programmer for Texas Instruments, Don Essenpreis said he believes his daughter gets her ability to focus from him.

Mrs. Essenpreis said her daughter shares her optimism and that they have always been close.

“A lot of teenagers distance themselves, but she never did that,” she said.

Shannon Essenpreis said she will stay grounded in her faith while in college by surrounding herself with people who share her Christian values.

“I'm kind of selective in my friends in that way because I would like for them to be a really good example for me, as much as I am for them,” she said.

Posted: 7/23/04

TEXAS BAPTIST FORUM:
Editor should join 'outfit'

I received my July 12 Baptist Standard the other day, and it seems the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has taken over our editor and the Baptist Standard.

I would suggest that you resign and join that outfit. Don't drag Texas Baptists down with you.

The Bible says that in the latter days, there will be a falling away of the elite. I see it happening.

I hope Texas Baptists will open their eyes before it is too late.

Gerald Callon

Tyler

SBC leaders won battle, lost war

Some statements made by some of the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention at this year's annual meeting were both revealing and surprising.

Surprising when Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee stated: “We cannot let the convention be driven by politics. Politics for the sake of control by a few is not how our forefathers envisioned the operations of our convention.” His words have a hollow ring, since he was one of those who exercised the politics that moved the fundamentalist takeover and control of the convention.

Jimmy Draper, president of the SBC's LifeWay Christian Resources, stated the steady drop in numbers of baptisms within the convention “reflects a denomination that has lost its focus.” I submit that it is not the result of a loss of focus but rather 25 years of misguided focus.

The focus has been power and control and extraneous issues like denouncing public schools to the detriment of building the kingdom and taking the gospel to a lost world.

For too long, the convention has made itself very clear on what and whom it dislikes. It is well past the time to start telling the world about a loving and compassionate God.

The fundamentalists stand in full control of the convention but have no standing with the very ones who need to know of a loving God and a living Savior.

They may have won their battle, but they are losing the war.

Does anyone remember Bold Mission Thrust?

Forrest Dickerson

Carlsbad, N.M

Is NAE 'conservative'?

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson claims the Baptist World Alliance is not a “conservative, evangelical” fellowship in part because it tolerates member bodies that support women as pastors (July 12).

I do not know whether SWBTS is affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals, but surely even Patterson would not deny that it is a group of conservative, evangelical denominations, churches and institutions. The NAE includes the Conservative Baptist Association, the Church of the Nazarene, the Presbyterian Church of America (a very conservative, confessional Presbyterian body) and about 48 more conservative, evangelical denominations.

Some of them ordain women to ministry and have women pastors. These include the Free Methodist Church, the Evangelical Covenant Church, the Assemblies of God, the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.) and many more.

To make women pastors a litmus test of being conservative and evangelical is simply to ignore the plain facts of the American evangelical scene. Many very conservative and strongly evangelical churches and bodies do have women pastors and have had women pastors for decades.

The Free Methodist Church first ordained women as pastors in the 19th century; numerous Holiness groups such as the Church of the Nazarene have historically harbored women pastors.

If the Standard's report of what Patterson said in this matter is accurate, then Patterson should not consider the National Association of Evangelicals a “conservative, evangelical” fellowship. That would be a striking irony.

Roger E. Olson

Waco

Obey God on marriage

Marriage is the union of one man and one woman as established by God in the beginning.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their homosexual practice. If same-sex marriages are legalized in America, will God apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah, or will he also destroy America?

We are told, “What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). We better obey God.

Elsie Graham

Responsibility of faith

Joel Gregory's exhortation for Baptists to exercise their freedom (July 12) was prophetic to the continuation of faithful Baptist standards.

These past 25 years of fighting have taken their toll on Baptist heritage, and the political fighting has taken its toll on the Baptist witness in this world. These priorities will re-emerge only as we give up this dishonorable fight.

This fight is political, regardless of the reasons men and women give it. We have been fighting a war of politics and power, not a battle for souls. We have been fighting a war for naming rights to be Southern Baptists instead of the responsibility to be Christ's followers.

In this complex age, lies can be as convincing as truth, fantasy as real as reality and spin a substitute for honesty.

Pretentious politics and religiosity have seduced some of us. We should now go forward as new Baptists, committed to the same truth we have been trying to reclaim, including religious and individual freedom from the oppressive fundamentalist right.

We must reclaim the right and responsibility to find God with fear and trembling through the personal responsibility of faith.

Jesus never brought up the issues we fight today–inerrancy, creationism and creeds. He did condemn the spiritual leaders of his day who misled many. He called them heretics, hypocrites and false prophets through their dangerous marriage to political leaders and in their desire to control, use and even steal from the people of their day.

Charles Ledbetter

Cleburne

Public prayer

Many Christians support prayer in public schools, at graduations and sporting events. Didn't Jesus consider people who pray in public to be hypocrites–especially those who pray standing in churches and on street corners?

Didn't he say that when you pray, “enter thy closet and pray to (your) Father in secret”?

Are we all hypocrites? Or is it OK to overlook his views on public prayer?

Chuck Mann

Greensboro, N.C.

What do you think? Submit letters for Texas Baptist Forum via e-mail to marvknox@baptiststandard.com or regular mail at Box 660267, Dallas 75266-0267. Letters must be no longer than 250 words. They may be edited to accommodate space.

Posted: 7/23/04

Funny paper provides serious path to
learning how to read, author says

By Mary Crouch

BGCT Summer Intern

WACO–The funny pages offer a serious gateway to literacy, author Glenda Reese believes.

People who don't speak English well can learn from cartoons, Reese said during a session on teaching English-as-a-Second-Language at the Conference for International and Literacy Ministries this summer.

Reece drew the idea from “Whatcha Gonna Learn from Comics?”–a training book that uses comic strips to teach ESL.

Newspaper cartoons are helpful in literacy training because they include “lots of action” and few words, Reese explained.

Teaching through action will help literacy students grasp concepts faster, because they are seeing the verbs in action, rather than just reading and repeating them, she said.

Adults learn English best when they focus on “daily routines, everyday stuff,” Reece said.

She used a copy of a “LuAnn” cartoon that contained mostly actions, rather than words, and asked the seminar class to convey in English what the cartoon character was doing.

Reece frequently teaches English through picture books, because “book idioms are not useful” in a situation like English training, where a student would not understand American or English slang and figures of speech.

The conference drew English-as-a-Second-Language and literacy instructors from around the state to Baylor University.

Seminars included lectures on blending cultures, basic English-teaching techniques and immigration issues.

They also focused on tutoring children and teaching Spanish literacy. About 150 participants attended the conference, which included 31 sessions.

The purpose of the conference was to “advance God's kingdom through international and literacy missions,” said Lester Meriwether, Baptist Literacy Missions Center coordinator.